Bob Kravitz: Colts' future may not be so far away

Oct. 28, 2012

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Colts quarterback Andrew Luck rushes as Tennessee's Kamerion Wimbley goes for the shoestring tackle during the first half of Sunday's game at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. Indianapolis won 19-13 in overtime. / (Robert Scheer/The Star)

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- They are growing up. Like a child, there are head-shaking moments, times of tumult and torment, but through seven games, the Indianapolis Colts are an amazing 4-3. And they are showing signs that maybe, just maybe, it's not so ridiculous to be using the "p'' word -- playoffs -- while referring to this group's ultimate fortunes.

They were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the NFL, a team that would be lucky to win two or three games. This ink-stained wretch picked them to win five, maybe six.

Well, look out.

They are getting better and they are getting healthier, and with their first road victory -- a 19-13 come-from-behind overtime job over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday -- suddenly the playoff talk doesn't seem quite so outlandish.

Some of us smirked when interim coach Bruce Arians said weeks ago, "We want to extend this season so Chuck (Pagano) can come back and coach again."

None of us is smirking now.

The tying and winning drives were signposts on the road back to excellence. They took the ball in overtime and shoved it down the Titans' throats, even when the Titans knew exactly what was coming.

"I think we've scratched all the youngness off of us," said Arians, now 3-1 as the Colts' interim coach. "That's not an excuse anymore."

Asked if the Colts are ahead of schedule in their development, Arians shook his head.

"No, I think we're behind schedule," he said. "We gave one game away (Jacksonville) that we should have in our pocket. We are just starting to scratch the surface of how good we can become if we all believe it."

They are growing up, something most of us figured would happen further on down the line this season, or maybe next season.

Rookie quarterback Andrew Luck, under duress all game while in the pocket, is growing up. He was brilliant, especially on third downs, where the Colts were 6-of-12.

Rookie running back Vick Ballard, the rookie who scored the game-winner on an epic end zone dive, is growing up. "That's going to be on ESPN," safety Antoine Bethea said. Between Ballard and Donald Brown, with a smattering of Delone Carter and Luck, the Colts ran for 171 yards on 34 carries.

The offensive line, now that it has been together three straight weeks, is growing up and providing the Colts with its best sustained running game in years.

The defense, nicked but not scarred by the Titans on Sunday, is growing up.

Here's a sign of growth: They were the happy beneficiaries of some breaks, and they took full advantage. They got the positive end of three offensive pass interference calls. They were fortunate that Dwayne Allen was ruled down with forward progress when he fumbled late in regulation. (No clue why they were throwing in that situation, but that's another story.) And they were fortunate that Titans coach Mike Munchak eschewed a 59-yard field-goal try with the wind AND Rob Bironas late in regulation.

The play call that won it is full verbiage: fake-toss-39-taxi-naked-right-screen-left.

Basically, in English, it's a throwback screen pass, although Luck had the option of throwing elsewhere. It was a brilliant play call by Arians, one that popped into his fertile mind Tuesday.

"I don't know why it did, but it was something I saw in a small-college game about three years ago, and I thought, 'Let's work on this during practice,'" Arians said as he stood in the locker room and watched his happy team celebrate. "It worked against our defense every time we ran it. So I figured, why not? We were in the red zone, we were running the ball well; why not try it there?"

It worked perfectly.

Except it darned near ended in disaster.

"I turned around and saw a Titans uniform flash and thought, 'Oh, God, this may end the game the wrong way,'" Luck said, referring to the near interception by Kamerion Wimbley. "But then I saw Vick get it and saw our offensive lineman (Anthony Castonzo) absolutely driving guys back, and what a great individual effort by Ballard."

When the touchdown was confirmed, general manager Ryan Grigson and vice president of football operations Tom Telesco patted each other on the back so hard, it was clearly audible in the press box.

Out in the hallway, you could see the Colts assistant coaches leaving the booth like a bunch of grade-schoolers let out for recess. "Woo-woo-ooo-ooo," they screamed.

All games matter, of course, but this one really mattered. Because it was that elusive first win on the road, and it happened to come against a divisional opponent. They are growing up, revealing themselves as one of the surprise teams of this year's NFL season.

Pagano, still receiving treatment for leukemia, put it well in a postgame tweet he sent to Grigson:

"This team has the heart of a lion."

The rebuilding year has turned into a building year. And that's nice to see for guys such as Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis and Reggie Wayne, who don't have the time to sit through a rebuilding process.

There are still those mistakes, the kinds they can't make if they want to win consistently. They can't blow blocking assignments on field goal tries. They can't commit silly penalties. Theymust do a better job of protecting Luck, who reminds me of a young John Elway with his ability to make plays out of nothing.

But they're getting there.

"If we were to believe all of the writers and all of the naysayers, we would be ... 0-7 right now," Cory Redding said. "Nobody picked us to win that game, but we don't give a crap about none of that, man."

Hey, man, I'm just happy we've got a newspaper reader, you know?

They're growing up. There will still be heartache, still be those "what-are-they-thinking?" moments, but with spirit and growth, there are possibilities. And suddenly, the impossible -- the postseason doesn't seem so impossible, after all.